I'm not a 4e player either, but they're testing the system. They'll need results from the various playtesters that reflect common experiences and variances within the system, so they need a common game system. No matter what your preferred game, using one game for the test sounds entirely reasonable. I won't have time to participate, but the idea sounds great. Good luck!
What I've done in my game for those rolls that might alert a player to something that should only be obvious if they succeed in a skill check (or miss a saving throw)is to have them roll in advance. I use an Excel grid and have the players each roll a d20 twenty times and record the results. Then I roll a d20 to determine which of these pre-rolls is the starting spot. Whenever I need a player roll where it isn't appropriate to let them know something's up, I just use the next roll on their list. The players get to make their own rolls, I get keep from tipping them off about special circumstances, everyone's happy. As a sidenote, my current game has been running for over 18 months and I still haven't run out of pre-rolls for any of the players. The need for these rolls is infrequent, but it's been great to have them available for those special occasions. |
